STARLINGS. 9 



raised, or more especially, if a gun was fired, up 

 again would rise the mass, with one unbroken, 

 rushing sound, as if the whole body were possessed 

 but of one wing, to bear them in their upward flight. 

 In the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, 

 where reeds are of considerable value for various 

 purposes, the mischief they occasion is often very 

 considerable, by bearing down and breaking them, 

 as many as can find a grasping hold, clinging to the 

 same slender stem, which, of course, bends, and 

 plunges them in the water, from whence they rise 

 to join some other neighbours, whose reed is still 

 able to bear their weight. This perpetual jostling 

 and breaking down, is the probable cause of the 

 incessant clatter, which continues for a considerable 

 time ; indeed, till all have procured dry beds, and a 

 firm footing. 



It has been remarked that the flights of these 

 birds have of late years much diminished, a fact to 

 which we can speak from our own experience, for 

 the assemblages which we have just described, as 

 forming so interesting a feature in autumnal evening 

 walks, have long ago ceased; and it is now a rare 

 thing to see a passing flock of even fifty, where, in 

 years gone by, they mustered in myriads. 



Their favourite dormitory of reeds, indeed, has 

 dwindled gradually away, since the dam was raised, 

 and the depth of water increased, which may partly 

 account for the diminution; but still reeds are left 

 in sufficient abundance for the accommodation of 

 ten times the number that are ever assembled in 

 the neighbourhood of which we speak. 



Under the head of Fringilla, or Finch, (which is 



